Buried in boats in the Atlantic or CaribbeanFull of bodies packed so tightMost prayingFor the opportunity of starvation over being immediately suffocated

This is a reference to the Atlantic slave trade that took place between the 16th and 19th centuries. Thousands of slaves were transported (mainly from Africa) to the New World and to England in order to work on plantations. Ships “full of bodies” were overcrowded with slaves that were considered cargo. Carlos is saying that being a slave is not glamorous and that most slaves wold rather die on the boat of starvation than be killed by their “masters”.